Higher display resolutions may require a large amount of data to represent the number of pixels of an image, and accordingly, that large amount of data may need to be transferred to the electronic device from the server. Transferring the large amount of data may utilize a significant portion of the available bandwidth from the server to the electronic device. Moreover, other network traffic may impede the transfer of data to the electronic device. As a result, the images may not be timely received and may not be displayed smoothly, there may not be enough bandwidth for other applications executing on the electronic device, the network transferring the data gets congested, and the user may consume excessive amounts of data, resulting in overage charges.
Furthermore, a processor of the electronic device rendering the images may need to process the large amount of data for images at the higher display resolution. Processing the large amount of data may utilize significant processing time and/or overtax the processor, resulting in higher power consumption, higher temperatures, and possibly degraded performance. Consequently, the images may not be rendered or displayed smoothly, and other applications on the electronic device may be slowed. The power usage of the electronic device may also increase significantly due to the higher bandwidth and processing needs for the images at the higher display resolution.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for systems and methods that address these bandwidth, processing, and power concerns without noticeably impacting user viewing experience.